Review of Portofino Beach Resort 4*

My husband and I stayed at Portofino for 5 nights during our first trip to Belize and we absolutely fell in love — with the country and this resort. All of the staff is so friendly and happy. Matthew, the manager, made sure our stay was extra special with all of his attentiveness and little extras. When the resort didn’t have cigars on site to sell, Matthew brought some back with him from town the next day. It was things like this that made us feel like we were truly on vacation. The restaurant is delicious. The pool is a perfect size. The accommodations are beautiful. The only drawback was that the thatched roof, as gorgeous as it is, does tend to let in the occasional bug or gecko. Overall, not a big deal and I hate bugs. The spa staff were amazing as well. And the dive shop, located on the premises, was so wonderful to work with. Roberto took me from being paralyzingly afraid to swim with sharks, to actively trying to pet them during our snorkeling adventure. Roberto also suggested taking a golf cart into town — a suggestion I originally shied away from since my only perception of traveling to a foreign country is “stay at the resort, don’t venture out on your own” — not true on San Pedro. This was absolutely one of the highlights of our trip — taking our own golf cart 7 miles from Portofino into town for shopping and lunch/dinner. Even coming back at night feels very safe. Overall, this resort was just perfect. This was our first Belize trip and definitely won’t be our last. Thanks also to Marcelo and Marcos. The entire staff was wonderful.